The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) on Wednesday announced that the Congress will not be joining the Jammu and Kashmir government this time.
In a statement issued by the party’s J&K unit, JKPCC Chief Tariq Hameed Karra stated that the party’s decision stems from its dissatisfaction with the Centre’s failure to restore statehood to the region.
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“Congress Party is not joining the Ministry in the Jammu and Kashmir government at the moment. Congress has strongly demanded from the Centre to restore Statehood to J&K, besides the Prime Minister has time and again in public meetings promised the same.
“But the Statehood has not been restored to J&K. We are unhappy therefore we are not joining the Ministry at the moment,” he said.
The J&K Congress chief further asserted that the party will continue its fight for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.
According to reports, the Congress was offered one ministerial berth in Omar Abdullah Cabinet. However, the party declined the offer and decided to support the Omar Abdullah government from outside.
The Congress statement came shortly after Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (J&KNC) leader Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Abdullah was administered the oath of office by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at a grand ceremony held at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar.
The event was attended by key opposition leaders from the INDIA bloc, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and other prominent figures including Supriya Sule(NCP-SP), Prakash Karat(CPI-M) and Kanimozhi (DMK).
